The Best Shape of My Life!

Short, but awesome! I did agility/speed/conditioning drills today. I hate doing long-term cardio, and I’m an avid hater of the treadmill. So I went outside the gym this morning for most of my 30 minute workout and conducted some good old fashioned, hardcore training on myself. Did some crossovers, skips with punches, power pushups, one-arm wall pushups, jump squats, and some other fun stuff. In the gym I did some pullups, pushups, and just played around climbing on the equipment. Yeah, I’m sure some of the people there thought I was crazy, but I don’t care. It’s a great way to work the body, and it’s definitely NOT boring.

Tomorrow morning is weights, and then Friday is another freestyle workout! Can’t wait. Hope it’s not thunderstorming outside…..don’t mind the rain, but the lightning gets to me.

I’m getting ready to go to Colorado with my wife, daughter, and the in-laws for a spring break ski trip! I AM SO EXCITED! I’ve only been skiing once in my life, and it was after my wife and I got married. It will be fun.

I hope I can keep up with my 18-year-old bro-in-law! Neither of us have "trained" to go skiing, but he usually outdoes me somehow in everything we do. Oh well, it’s fun competition, or something like that.

If we were putting on a theatrical production, we’d say "break a leg." Here, however, we do NOT want to say that, much less actually do it.

I’ll be sore when I get back, but I’m gonna love it! Later, everyone.

I did yoga this morning. I loved it! Surprisingly, I could still do a lot of the movements….granted, I’m not nearly as flexible as I could be.

My back is still hurting, though. It’s just the lower left side, and it kills me in certain positions. I’m not sure if the yoga activated the pain more or if I did something to screw it up again, but it is really hurting right now (and I thought I was getting over it).

I should probably make an appointment with a chiropracter and massage therapist. Unfortunately, that may mean taking a 1/2 day from work, which I really can’t afford to do till about April. I’ve got some Icy Hot on it right now, but I’m not sure if that will really do much of anything except make me smell horrible. Oh well, doesn’t hurt to try I guess.

I’m hoping that my back will allow me to do my weight workout in the morning. I was going to a full assessment, including the major barbell lifts (haven’t done an official test since last summer), but I think I’ll cut that out for now. I’ll probably stick to the machines so I can fix my back in a certain position and hope that it’s a good one.

Anyone know some good lifts (besides yoga and machines) that would be safe and good for a hurting back?

Of course I would do something during week 3 to injure myself! When everything is going well, that’s usually when something bad happens.

During yesterday’s weightlifting workout, I hurt my lower back. I think it was the shoulder presses. I’ve done that exercise several times before, and I’ve even done heavier weight that I used yesterday. I figured I’d use a weight that I knew I could do but yet would still be somewhat challenging (considering I’m regaining my strength). Apparently, I placed my lower back in the wrong position, because it was in killer pain yesterday and some movements this morning are quite painful.

I was going to do yoga today but I’m not now. I know yoga is great for flexibility, which is probably a big reason I hurt my back, but at the same time, I really don’t want to do anything more to hurt my back. So I’m going to try some stretches and see if I can alleviate some of the pain. Other than that, it’s time for some rest and recovery. Hopefully I’ll be good enough to do my weight workout tomorrow.

Whew! I forgot how exhausting and taxing swimming is on the body. Went in for a 30 minute swim at the local YMCA this afternoon and about couldn’t walk out of there! And that was even with many many many breaks. I swam half laps, using different techniques. I think my heartrate is still elevated.

And I think I swallowed about a gallon of over-chlorinated water! I’m coughing like crazy and I can smell, taste, and feel the chlorine all over. I hate that part of it. But….the workout is worth it I guess. I just need to learn to NOT swallow the water.

Hopefully I’ll still be able to do my weight workout in the morning.

YOGA

The class at the Y started at 6 am, and I showed up at 6:10. I just couldn’t get out of my house early enough to get there by start time. But the instructor was really nice and they welcomed me anyway. I’m SO GLAD I went, because it was just how I remembered yoga being from the last time I took the class. AWESOME!

The class is offered every Tue at 6 am, which is the perfect time for me to do a workout before going to work. So I’m putting it on my calendar to do every week. That will give me a weights workout on M/W/F, yoga on Tue, and I think I might try the cycling class they’ll be starting up on Thur. Either that or use Thur as a general cardio day. We’ll see.

I completed my first workout today after newly rejoining the YMCA! It felt GREAT to get back into the gym, play with the machines, and give myself a nice wake-up call. Though I didn’t do a whole lot of weight, nor did I get everything done I wanted to get done, I’m just happy that I made it through and that I stuck with my plan to get in there. I’ve been missing it, for sure.

Today I did weights (workout is logged in my workout tracker). I’m going to try to keep record of everything I do with the Bodybuilding.com workout tracker. It’s free, and fairly easy to use. I wish it accounted more for cardiovascular activity and other things, but hey, maybe one of these days it will. Or maybe it does already and I just haven’t figured it out.

Tomorrow I’m going to attempt the early morning Yoga class! It’s been a VERY LONG time since I’ve done any yoga, but I know it will be helpful in gaining some flexibility, which I need to work on a lot.

Wednesday will be another weights day, followed by a strict cardio day on Thursday, and then hopefully another weights/flexibility mix workout that I’m still coming up with. We’ll see how this week goes and adjust as needed.

I’m hoping too to get into the pool at our local Y location with my wife and daughter this week. I have some evening commitments, so we might not be able to this week, but definitely soon. We’ll all enoy that!

So here’s to a new start, and hopefully a consistent "run" at it!

I created a new bodyweight program for myself to use, since access to a gym right now is not feasible. And with my weight cage being outside and the weather extremely cold, I have to find other means of exercising. So, instead of letting winter totally bum me out, I designed a bodyweight program, and so far it’s going pretty well.

I have three "cycles" or circuits to the program.

Cycle 1- Cardio
15 minutes (to begin with) on the treadmill. The first 5 are my warmup, so walking at a nice pace. The next 10 are my work portion. I started at week 1 by walking the entire 10 minutes at a fast pace and at an incline of 2-4%. Each progressing week (I just ended week 2), I add 2 minutes of running time, until at the end of this program I’m running all 10 minutes of the work portion. Then I can decide whether to add more minutes, intervals, etc.

Cycle 2- Upper Body
Standard Pushups (15)
Hyperextensions (15)
180 Degree Lateral Raises, w/ Light Weights (15)
Plank w/ Alternating Arm Raise (10/side)

Cycle 3- Lower Body
Squat Thrusts (30 seconds)
Lateral Lunges w/ Light Weights (30 seconds)
Scissor Kicks (30 seconds)
Bicycle Crunches (30 seconds)

I usually do the Warmup, then Cycle 2, then Cycle 1 Work, repeat Cycle 2, then finish with Cycle 3 and stretches. I have mixed it up, added extra exercises, and so on.

The workout has left me sore each time, which is good. It’s been nice to get back into exercising after basically taking a semester off, and doing bodyweight exercises, at least for now, is very motivating and exciting. Learning to use my own bodyweight against me has been a very insightful experience.

So today I decided to give myself another assessment. I haven’t done that in a while.

12 Minute Treadmill Cardio Test
Pre-HR: 92 (after warmup)
Post-HR: 144
Distance: 1.48 miles

The distance was just .01 lower than my last assessment (see my bb accomplishments listed on my profile), but considering that I have not done an extensive amount of running, especially times running, I think I held steady pretty well. Obviously, I’m still at average, and I’m working on getting better. I’ve adjusted my goal for this year concerning running. I originally posted that I want to run 1.75 miles in 12 minutes by my next birthday (June 09), but the more I think about it, the more I really want to push myself to reach 2.0. My wife laughed a bit and reminded me that that time equates to a 6 minute mile. Sure, which is why I want to achieve it. I used to be able to run 6-6:30 miles, and I know if I push myelf, I can reach that number again. So if I can fall somewhere between 1.75 and 2.0 miles by next June, I’m going to consider myself in good shape.

My Posttest HR of 144 puts me in the 75% range of HRR, which is a good place to be. I was definitely feeling it, and by the end of the test, it was a bit difficult to breathe. I’m not sure if my asthma was just messing up on me or maybe it’s just been a long time since I’ve pushed myself that hard. Either way, the HR response was good.

PUSHUP TEST
30 consectively

Not the best in the world, but still above average. My goals would be to do at least 50, with perfect form, consecutively. There was a time when I could do 50 straight almost every day, but trying to remember exactly how I did the pushups, I’m not sure if exact form was used. One pushup with exact form is a difficult exercise, so anyone that can pump out 30 or more (keeping exact form) should be commended. Probably why ACSM labels 30 with "very good."

CRUNCH TEST
41 in 60 seconds

Very nice here. I probably could have done more, but I wasn’t rushing through them. I’m in pretty good shape as far as basic core conditioning. Now I need on zapping the fat and developing core endurance and holding strength. Flexibility and balance exercises are great at doing that! Yoga anyone?

BODYFAT PERCENT = 12.5%
Interesting here. I’ve actually dropped a bit of BF even though I haven’t been doing a whole lot of concentrated workouts. Granted, I’m not complaining, but I would like to know how I did it. If I can drop BF and not workout so much, then what else is going on? My diet is not perfect by any means. In fact, I wouldn’t even call my diet "healthy." Yeah, that’s a big deal for me, but with the means I’m living on right now, I have to make thing work the best I can. I also take no supplements that aid in burning fat and maintaining muscle. Well, a protein shake here and there, but even with those, I’m very inconsistent. Well, if I can drop to 12.5% under these circumstances, then I think I’m well on my way to getting that 9-10% back that I used to have. Maybe even go lower. I need to be more dedicated…..not only to workouts, but more to diet as well. Oh, the potential!

GENERAL COMMENTS 

I’m updating my profile with all the right stats. Since I haven’t lifted weights in a long time, those won’t change any. But the bodyweight and all the circumference measures will be changed. Some I’m quite happy about (again, can’t find a real reason that they would have changed that much in my favor), and obviously some I’m not very happy about, or would like to see better. But, overall, I think I’m doing all right. Now I just need to get back into the swing of it and really hit it hard.

So a while ago I wrote that I was being forced to change my focus on fitness. I don’t have the time to dedicate to going to the gym nearly as much as I’d like, and with everything going on, it came down to me asking myself what was most important–lifting 300 lbs on the benchpress or keeping myself in good condition for the long haul.

I chose the latter, and I’ve actually been much happier with myself for doing so. I pretty much gave up the gym, and along with hit, lifting weights. Sure, I miss it every now and then, and sure, I’d like to get in there, pound out some iron, reach my 300 lb BP goal, but the fact of the matter is this: I have much more important things in life to worry about. After all, what will benching 300 lbs on the BP get me? Fame, fortune? Possibly. But other than that, lifting weight on a benchpress is only good for one main thing, and that’s for lifting weight on a benchpress.

I’ve begun putting a lot of stock into bodyweight exercise routines. I know there are a lot of guys out there who are probably mocking me right now, and that’s ok. They can stick to their sacred benchpress while I go out and take a run and visit the local park. I enjoy being out in nature (though I’ve been running more often inside on the treadmill due to it being incredibly dark at 5 am) and doing bodyweight exercises. At the park, I usually do a bunch of agiliy and speed drills, as many pullups as I can do, dips, pushups, crunches, etc. And I LOVE TO CLIMB on the equipment. My wife yells at me sometimes because I climb where I’m not supposed to in front of a bunch of kids, which I’m sure makes me a bad role model. But I can’t help it. I enjoy it. So I try to go to the park when there aren’t many people there.

I also do a lot of bodyweight workouts in my basement. It’s amazing what a bunch of bodyweight squats, leg lifts, crunches (oh the variations!), pushups (over 15 different combos in one workout!), and more will do to your body. Whomever tells you that you have to lift 300 lbs on a bench press to get a good workout for your body is simply telling you a flat out lie. Your body has been designed to give you all the resistance you need, and, if you’re like me, that’s 185 lbs of pure physical force going against you!

Some lift weights, some swim, some run, and some play. Whatever you do, do it well. If you like the gym, and lifting, then stay there. That’s where you belong. But don’t be afraid to venture out every once in a while and try something different. You might be quite surprised at what your own body can do for you.